Garibaldi Provincial Park

British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park sits northwest of Vancouver, near the popular ski area of Whistler. The park is home to soaring peaks cradling massive glaciers and sturdy hikers can enjoy views of this incredible landscape by hitting a variety of trails. 

One of the best is Elfin Lakes trail, which heads to a couple of small lakes set on a ridge surrounded by mountains. Backpackers have an option to camp on well-maintained tent platforms or book a bed in the Elfin Shelter bunk house. Both are great options for further forays into the wilderness here.

Garibaldi Lake is another option. This trail heads to its namesake lake, a larger glacial lake that shines turquoise when the sun is out. It’s backed by large mountains and makes for an impressive sight.

Because Garibaldi is a provincial park, not a national park, there’s not a ton of great infrastructure here. You can easily book campsites online, but there aren’t any accessible visitor centers or park rangers you can call and ask questions. Instead, finding out about road and trail conditions is mostly the work of crowdsourcing and looking to apps, like All Trails, for info.